Method of making endless wire ropes or cables.



No. 654,225. Patented july 24, I900.

A. n. CARNAGY. METHOD OF MAKING ENDLESS WIRE BOPES 0B CABLES.

(Application filed Feb. 20, 1900.)

(No Model.)

Nrrnn 'ATES ATIENT vFm.

ALFRED D. CARNAGY, OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR' TO THE JOHN A.ROEBLINGS SONS COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

METHOD OF MAKING ENDLESS WIRE ROPES OR CABLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 654,225, dated July 24,1900.

Application filed February 20, 1900. Serial No. 5,895. (No model.)

To all whom it ntay concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED D. CARNAGY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Trenton, county of Mercer, and State of New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of MakingEndless NVire Ropes or Cables, fully described and represented in thefollowing specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a partofthe same.

This invention relates to an improved method of producing endless wirerope or cable, the especial object of the invention being the productionof comparatively-small rings of wire rope or cable, although theinvention may be applied also in connection with the production ofendless wire ropes or cables of any dimensions.

The number of splices required and the length of material necessary forefficient splicing of wire rope or cable practically prevent theproduction of endless wire rope or cable by splicing the ends of thestrands together, especially where much strength is required, unless thelength of the rope or cable be sufficient to separate considerably thesplices of the different strands, and even in making endless rope orcable of such length as to permit this the splicing of the differentstrands so as to secure a smooth and strong splice is a slow andexpensive operation. The endless wire rope or cable produced by themethod of the present invention is formed without splices and of asingle strand, the successive windings of which strand form the outerlayers of the rope or cable and the ends of which strand form the coreof the rope or cable. A ring of this construction may be made of largerope or cable, so as to secure great strength, while from the fact thatno splices are used, so that the length of material necessary forsplicing is not required, such a ring may be made of practically assmall a size as desired for any use to which such metal'rings or endlesswire ropes or cables are applicable.

The invention consists in an improved method of making wire rings andother endless wire ropes or cables, in accordance with which method Imake a form of the ring to be produced having strands of the same size,

number, and arrangement as the ring, and then remove successively theouter strands of this form and substitute for each of said strands awinding of the single strand from which the ring is to be made, andfinally substitute for the core-strand of the form the opposite ends ofthe ring-strand.

For a full understanding of the invention a detailed description of aconstruction of the preferred form made in accordance with my inventionwill now be given in connection with the accompanying drawings, forminga part of this specification, and the features forming the inventionwill then be specifically pointed out in the claim.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan View of a ring with parts brokenaway to show the construction. Fig. 2 is a detail view looking in thedirection of the arrow in Fig. 1. Figs. 3 and 4 are cross-sections onrespectively the lines 3 and 4: of Fig. 1.

The ring shownis a wire-rope ring with the usual central core and sixout-er strands; but it will be understood that the number of strandsoutside the core may be varied. This ring A is made of a single stranda, wound spirally about the core, as usual with separate strands informing wire rope or cable, successive windings of the strand a formingthe outer layer of the rope ring A and the core of the rope being formedby the ends of the strand a, these ends 1 6 passing from the outer layerof the rope into the middle of the rope at the same point on one side ofthe ring, as shown at w in Figs. 1 and 2, and each preferably extendinghalf-way around the ring, so that they meet on the opposite side of thering, as shown at the top of Fig. 1. It will be understood, however,that those portions of the opposite ends of the strand that form thecore may be of different lengths and meet at any other desired point inthe ring; but greater strength is secured with the ends ofsubstantially-equal length,as in the construction shown. The stranda isshown as formed of a large number of strands of comparativelysmall wire,so as to make a flexible wire strand, as usual in wire rope and cableconstruction 5 but the construction of the single strand from which thering is made is not es- The ring A may be sential to the invention.

of any suitable size and the size of the strand a varied as desired, inaccordance with the use for which the ring is designed.

A ring or endless wire rope or cable of the construction shown and abovedescribed forms the subject-matter of another application, Serial No.696,151, filed November 11, 1898, irrespective of the method by which itis made; but such rings are preferably made by the following method,which forms the invention of the present application: I first make aform by bending a piece of rope or cable, preferably of wire andpreferably for convenience and cheapness having a hemp center or core,into a ring of the same size as the ring to be made, the ends of theform rope or cable being abutted but not spliced together. The rope orcable from which this form is made has strands of the same number andsize and arranged in the same manner as the strands of the ring to beformed. I then takea single strand, as strand a of the ring shown inthedrawings, and, starting at the point where the ends of the formring areabu tted, which is the point at which the ends of the strand areinserted to form the core, (point 00 in the drawings,) I remove one ofthe strands of the form-ring and substitute for it a winding of thesingle strand a, from which the ring is to be made. In applying thesingle strand for this first winding the end of the strand is leftprojecting to such an extent as is desired for insertion to form thecore, this first winding being strand 1 of the ring shown in thedrawings and the end being shown as left of sufficient length to extendhalf-way around the ring and form one-half the core. When this firstwinding 1 of the strand a has been laid into the I strand is leftprojecting such a distance as desired for the formation of the core,being one-half the circumference of the ring shown, and the ring A isthen complete, except that the core is formed by a strand of theoriginal form-ring for which the ends of the single strand a are now tobe substituted. This substitution is made by drawing out the corestrandof the form ring and substituting therefor the two ends 1 6 of thesingle strand at, which ends are inserted into the center of the wirerope or cable formed by the six windings of the strand a and preferablyextend so as to abut and form a complete core within the ring.

It will be understood that my improved method may be used in makingrings or endless wire ropes or cables of any desired size and that theinvention is not to be limited in respect to the size or length of thestrand used, although the invention is of especial value and especiallyintended for application in connection with the production of comparatively-small rings or other endless ropes or cables.

The invention has been found very efficient in connection with ringssuch as shown of a diameter of about fifteen inches, with the strand aof one-fourth-inch diameter.

What I claim is- The method of making endless wire rope or cable whichconsists in making a form of the article desired having strands of thesame size and number as those of the rope or cable to be formed andsubstituting for each of the outer form-strands in succession awindingof the strand from which the wire rope or cable is to be made andfinally substituting for the core-strand of the form the opposite endsof the strand which has been substituted for the outer form-strands,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

ALFRED 1). CARNAGY.

Witnesses:

CHARLES C. CooLEY, DUNCAN M. ANDERSON.

